Dough-feeding device



R. E. BAKER, E. H. FORD AND L. SJHARBER.

DQUGH FEEDING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 11. 1918.

Patented June 8, 1920.

Iobert Elmer fiaker 222x621? NET- R. E. BAKER, E. H. FORD AND L. s. HARE-ER.

DOUGH FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-11,1918. 1,343,184. PatentedJune 8,1920.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

: I i I m um/whom fiolert Z'Imer Baker lardlgjliriylbrd fi Hwi an .ldHrenceJgo/zmr-Mrhr R. E. BAKER, E. H. FORD AND L. S. HARBER.

DOUGH FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.11.191B.

Patented; Jana 5%, 1929,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

5] woo/1413014 R06ert '1mer Baker R. E. BAKER, E. H. FORD AND L. S. HARBER.

DOUGH FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 11, 1918.

L343, 1:? Patented June 8 19m 4 SHEETSSHEET 4.

ROBERT ELMER BAKER, OF BRONXVILLE, AND LAURENCE SEYMOUR HARBER, OF

BAKERS LIMITED, OF NEW YORK, N; Y.

DOUGH-FEEDING DEVICE.

masses.

Application filed January 11 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ROBERT ELMER BAKER, EARDLEY HARRY Form, and LAU- RENOE SEYMOUR Hansen, all subjects of the King oi Great Britain, and residents, re spectively, of Bronxville, in the county of lVestchester and State of New York, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, and of Tompkinsville, in the borough and county of Richmond, city and State of New York, have jointly invented certain new. and useful Improvements in Dough-Feeding Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanism whereby articles traveling in columns, so as to reach, the same point or line successively, are so re-arranged that some of the articles which are one behind the other until they arrive at said point, will'then be abreast or side by side. In the particular example illustrated, we have shown our invention applied to the feeding and distributing of loaves or molded portions of dough (preferably before baking) which reach the apparatus in single column or single tile and are re-arranged in rows of six loves abreast; but it will be understood that other articles may be conveyed by means of apparatus of this character, and of course we do not restrict ourselves to having such articles supplied in a single column and rearranged in rows of six abreast, but the initial number of columns, and the number of articles in arow, when re-arranged, may be varied.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of an apparatus embodying our invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section thereof on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an endelevation with parts in section sub stantially on line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail side elevation of certain parts at one end of the apparatus, partly in section; Fig. 5 is a similar view of certain parts at the other end of the apparatus; and F 6 is a partial section on line 6-6 of Fig. 1,. i

In the particular construction illustrated, a transverse horizontal shaft 10, journaled in the frame 11, at one end thereof, is driven tron). a shaft 12., by means of bevel gearing Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented June 8, 1920..

, 1918. Serial No. 211,413.

13, 14. On this shaft are secured rigidly, at the sides of the frame, two sprocket wheels of equal diameter. At the other end of the frame, a shaft 16 parallel to the shaft 10, is journaled, preferably in such a manner as to be adjustable toward and from the shaft 10. For this purpose, the shaft 16 may be journaled in slides 17 movable on longitudinal guides 18 of the frame, by means of adjusting screws 19 screwinginto the frame. Sprocket wheels 20 are secured rigidly to the shaft 16 in positions corresponding to the sprocket wheels 15. These sprockets engage two endless chains having pivots 21 and links 22. Adjacent to the inner member of some of the links 22, brackets 23 are mounted on two adjacent pivots 21 and are secured thereto by riveting the ends of such pivots, or in any other suitable manner. These brackets are arranged at regular intervals on the chains, and each bracket is formed with a transverse sleeve 24 in which is journaled one end of a transverse rod 25, it being understood that the sleeves 24 connected with the two chains are in transverse alinement. Collars 2G, tastened to the rods 25 by'means of set screws 26, limit the endwise movement of said rods. The brackets 23 are further provided with inwardlyextending members 28, to which are secured rigidly, as by screws and nuts 27, transverse bars 28. At its central portion, each of said bars carries rigidly the rear wall 29 of one of the receptacles whicn carry the loaves or other articles Each of these rear walls is preferably provided with a rearwardly-extending inclined flange 29 at its outer edge, said flange being adapted to form a front wall for the next receptacle in the rear. The bars 28 are L-shaped, as shown at the left in Fig. 5, with one member 28 extending parallel to the plane of the upper chain run when such bars reach said run. On the central portion of each rod 25 are secured, as by set screws 30, collars 30 between which is located the swinging section of the carrier. or receptacle, carried on the rod 25 by means of brackets 31 and sleeves 31. This swinging section comprises a bottom 32 normally in clined downwardly and rearwardly, and two vertical side walls 33, but has no top wall or end walls, the latter being formed by the tions is further provided between the brackets 31 with a bar or block 34 adapted to engage the rear edge of the member 28 when the section swings to an approximately vertlcal position, as shown at the left in Flg.

5, said member thus forming a stop to prevent the receptacle section from swinging too far when dropping to its lower or discharge position. At its free or swinging end the bottom 32 is provided with a preferably rounded bar 35 extending parallel to the rod 25. This bar 35, by coming in contact with, and traveling up on, the outer surface of a guide pulley 36 mounted on the shaft 10, will cause the receptacle to swing upward on its pivot and to be car ried around to the lower run of the conveyer with the swinging section remaining in substantially thesame positionrelatively to the conveyer chains. To prevent the sections from swinging by gravity to a substantially vertical position when they reach the lower conveyer run,'the wall 29 carries, projected forwardly therefrom, a bracket 37 adapted to engage the free end of the bottom 32 of the swinging section from below and to support or stop it, as shown in Figs. 2

and 5. While passing from the lower to the upper conveyer run, the bar35 comes in contact with a stationary guiding member similar in function to the guide pulley 36 and supported loosely on the shaft 16. The guiding surface of this member consists of a portion 38 of circular curvature. with shaft 16 as its center, and a tangential portion 38 contiguous to said circular portion and extending for a short distance along the upper conveyer run. It will be understood that the guide member 38, 38 will not rotate with the shaft 16, and is held in such a position that the guide portion 38 will be parallel to' the upper conveyer run, by resting on a rod 39 extending from one side of the frame to the other.

On their upper runs, that is between the sprockets 20 and 15, the endless chains 21, 22 travel on tracks 40 secured by means of screws 40 to inwardly-projecting portions 11' of the frame 11. Extending inwardly between the two conveyer chains are nortance pieces 40 which are slightly thicker 7 than the supports 41, 42 and fit into the slots 41, 42; the distance pieces are of course shorter than the slots, and therefore allow the "supports to be moved lengthwise.

The rear ends of the supports 41, 42 are preferably curved downwardly, as shown in Fig. 4, while their forward ends are cut out in step-wise fashion, as shown clearly in Fig. 1. In the example shown in the drawings, each support has three steps, 41, 42" respectively, at equal distances apart, the steps 41 in the table 41 alternating with the steps 42 in the table or support 42. The example illustrated has six successive steps, the distance from one step to the next step ahead (which in this particular example is on the other side of the conveyer) being equal to the distance between two adjacent pivot rods Adapted to cooperate with these steps are blocks or pads 43 secured by means of screws 43 to lateral extensions 35 of the rods 35 on the swinging sections, these extensions being arranged alternately on opposite sides of the sections, and the extensions on the same side being of different lengths. Thus, in the example shown, one section has on one side a rod extension 35 of such length that its pad 43 will be in line with the outermost step 42"; the next following section (in the rear) has a rod extension 35 which may be of the same length as the extension on the first section, but located on the other side, so that its pad 43 will be in line with the outermost step 41. The third section has a rod extension 35 on the same side as the first sec tion, but shorter, so that the pad 43 will be in line with the second step42, and so on. The seventh section will again be exactly like the first section, and so on, since in the particular example shown the supports 41, 42 together have six steps. Of course, we do not wish to limit ourselves to this number-of steps within one group, nor to the particular arrangement of having the steps on two sides of the receptacles, nor to the arrangement of having the stops on one side alternate with those on the other side. It will be understood that the number of receptacles for the entire conveyer will be a multiple of the number of receptacles. composing one group.

The blocks or pads 43 are adapted to travel on the supports 41, 42 and thus maintain the sections or receptacles 32, 33 in their normal position, after the rods 35 have reached the end of the horizontal guide surface 38. As will be seen in Figs. 1 and 4, the downwardly curved forward end of the guide surface 38' is in advance of the curved rear ends of the stepped supports 41, 42. Each pad or block 43' will therefore reachthe support 41 or 42 before the rod has reached the forward end of the guide surface 38'. V

Underneath the upper conveyer run is arranged a chute 44 supported by means of chine.

brackets 44 on the frame 11 of the ma- This chute is divided by partitions 44 into compartments the number of which corresponds to the aggregate numberof steps ll, 4'2 on the supports 4L1, 42, that is, in the example illustrated, there are six compartments.

The operation of our machine is briefly described as follows: The dough balls or other articles to be arranged in rows, are

delivered one by one in any suitable way (not shown) to the receptacles 32, 33, as these reach the upper conveyer run, say at the point A indicated in Fig. 2 at the left-hand end of the machine, As the receptacles are carried along by the chains, with their blocks or pads 43 traveling on the supports or restraining means 41, 42, the blocks of six consecutive receptacles will reach their corresponding steps ell, 42 and slide off these steps at the same time, allowing the six receptacle sections to swing downward in unison on their pivots 25 to the position shown at the center of Fig. 2. This tilting of the receptacle sections will allow the dough balls or other articles contained in them to drop out into the compartments of the chute 44 whence they will be delivered in rows of six abreast onto a conveyer or other suitable device (not shown).

It is evident that in order to insure the proper delivery by the moving receptacles, of the dough balls or other articles, into the stationary chute compartments, the steps or tilting points must be properly located with respect to the chute compartments, and that the speed at which the con veyer travels must be taken into consideration. Since this speed may vary according to special requirements, we preferably make the supports 41, 4L2, and thereby the steps 41, 42, adjustable lengthwise of the machine, as mentioned above. For this purpose each support is provided at its under side with a rack portion 45 in engagement with a pinion 4:6, 46' respectively mounted. on a shaft l? journaled in the frame 11 and carrying on one of its ends a hand wheel 48. This shaft is capable of a slight movement lengthwise of its axis (not suflicient to disengage the pinions l6, e16 from the racks 45) and is held in its normal position (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3) by a spring as. In this position one of the pinions, 416, is engaged by a lug secured to the underside of the frame extension 11; this lug prevents thepinion and shaft from turning, and therefore locks the supports 41, 4:2 against longitudinal movement. If it is desired to adjust the supports n, 12 to a different position, the shaft 47 is pulled outward against the tension of the spring 49, so that the pinion d6 will be clear of the lug 50 (position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3), whereupon the shaft can be turned and the supports 41, d2 adjusted to any desired position. After this has been done, the shaft will be-locked again automatically against turning by the ction of the spring 49. If the conveyer speed is increased, the sup ports ll, will be adjusted farther away from the chute and nearer to it when the conveyer speed is decreased.

The inclined flange 29 also forms a deflector to guide the dough balls or other articles into the swinging section 32, 33 when such articles are delivered to the conveyer, as at A. Furthermore, these inclined flanges bridge the gaps between adjacent carriers or receptacles and thus prevent the balls of dough or other articles from becoming wedged in these gaps.

lVe claim:

1. A conveyer comprising traveling means, carriers held to travel with said means and positively connected therewith at definite points but movable relatively there to, said carriers being arranged in groups, and provided with holding members the position of which is difilerent for the several carriers of the same group, and stationary restraining means normally engaging said holding members and having portions to release the carriers of the same group.

2. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means having a straight run and a curved portion preceding said sraight run, carriers pivoted to said traveling means and having two sets of engaging devices, restraining means in supporting engagement with the engaging devices of one set on the straight run adjacent to said curved portion, to hold the carriers against movement relatively to the traveling means, and a guide in supporting engagement with the other set of engaging devices along said curved portion, the exit end of said guide being located at a higher level than the entrance end of said restraining means, and overlapping said entrance end.

3. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, carriers held to travel with said means and positively connected therewith at definite points but movable relaively thereto, said carriers being arranged in groups, and provided with holding members the position of which is different for the carriers of the same group, but equal for like carriers of different groups, and stationary restraining means normally engaging saidholding members and having portions arranged to cooperate with the differentlypositioned holding members to release the corresponding carriers' 4. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, carriers held to travel with said means and positively connected there with at definite points but movable relatively thereto, said carriers being arranged in groups and provided with holding members which are different for the carriers of the same group, and stationary restraining means normally engaging .said holding members and having portions arranged to cooperate with the several holding members to release the corresponding carriers.

5. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, carriers held to travel with said'means and positively connected therewith at definite points but movable relatively thereto, said carriers being arranged in groups and provided with holding memhere which are different for the carriers of the same group, but alike for corresponding carriers of different groups, and stationary restraining means normally engaging said holding members and having portions arranged to cooperate with the several holding members to release the corresponding carriers.

6. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, carriers connected with said means positively at definite points and held to travel therewith, said carriers being arranged in groups, the intervals be tween the carriers of one group being the same as the intervals between the carriers of the other groups, said carriers being provided with holding members the position of which is different for the several carriers of the same group, and stationary restraining means normally engaging said holding members and having portions to release the several carriers of the same group,'said portions being located at intervals from each other corresponding to the intervals between the carriers of one group.

7 A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, carriers held to travel with said means and movable relatively thereto, said carriers being arranged ingroups and provided with holding members which. are different for the carriers of the same group, and stationary restraining means normally engaging said holding members and having portions arranged to cooperate with the several holding members to release the corresponding carriers, said restraining means being adjustable lengthwise of the path of said traveling means.

8. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, a carrier pivoted to said means, stationary restraining means for normally holding said carrier against pivotal movement and having a portion to release said carrier, and a stop rigidly mounted on the traveling means to limit the swinging movement of the carrier when re leased. p

9. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, carriers secured pivotally to said traveling means at different points of its length, said carriers being arranged in groups and provided with holding memhers the position of which is different for the several carriers of the same grou and stationary restraining means normal y engaging said holding members and having portions to release the carriers of the same group and allow them to turn on their pivots while such carriers continue to move with said traveling means.

10. A conveyer mechanism comprising two parallel conveyer chains, brackets each mounted on two adjacent chain link pivots and separate from the chain links, the brackets of the two chains being in transverse alinement, supporting means extending transversely from one bracket of one chain to the corresponding bracket of the other chain, and carriers pivoted to swing about the axes of said supporting means.

11. A conveyer mechanism comprising parallel conveyer chains, brackets each mounted on two adjacent chain link pivots and separate from the chain links, the brackets of difierent chains being in transverse alin'ement with each other, swinging receptacle sections each pivotally connected with transversely alining brackets, and complementary receptacle sections rigidly connected with such brackets.

12. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, a series of carriers connected positively with said means at definite points to travel with said means at all times, each carrier being movable relatively to the traveling means while sharing the movement of said means, and being provided with a holding member the position of which is different for each carrier of said series, and stationary restraining means normally engaging said holding members and having releasing portions of different positions corresponding to, and cooperating with the re spective carriers of said series.

13. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, receptacle sections pivoted to said traveling means and having open ends at front and rear, and transverse members secured to said traveling means between adjacent pivoted sections and each arranged to form a front wall for one of two adjacent sections and a rear wall for the other, said transverse members being connected with the traveling means independently of the pivoted sections, so as not to share the pivotal movement of said sections relatively to the traveling means.

1 1. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, receptacle sections connected movably with said traveling means at different points of its length, and having open ends at front and rear, and transverse members secured to said traveling means between adjacent movable sections and each arranged to form a front wall for one of two adjacent sections and a rear wall for the other section, said transverse members being connected with the traveling means independently of the pivoted sections, so as not to share the pivotal movement of said sections relatively to the traveling means.

15. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, transverse members carried thereby, and receptacle sections piv oted to said traveling means and arranged between said transverse members to swing relatively thereto, each of said transverse members forming a front wall for one receptacle and a rear wall for the adjoining receptacle, said transverse members being connected with the traveling means independently of the pivoted sections, so as not to share the pivotal movement of said sections relatively to the traveling means.

16. A conveyor mechanism comprising traveling means, receptacle sections connected movably with said traveling means at diiferent points of its length, each of these sections having open ends at front and rear, and a bottom inclined at the horizontal portions of said traveling means, and transverse members secured to said travel.- ing means between adjacent movable sections and provided with flanges to bridge the gap between adjacent sections.

17. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means having a straight run and a curved portion preceding said straight run, carriers movably connected with said traveling means and provided with two sets of engaging devices moving in different paths, restraining means in supporting engagement with the engaging devices of one set on the straight run adjacent to said curved portion, and a guide in supporting engagement with the other set of engaging devices along said curved portion, the exit end of said guide being located at a higher level than the entrance end of said restraining means, and overlapping such entrance end, both of said ends being bent clownwardly.

18. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means having a straight run and a curved portion preceding said straight run, carriers pivoted to said traveling means and having two sets of engaging devices, restraining means in supporting engagement with the engaging devices of one set on the straight run adjacent to said curved portion to hold the carrier against movement relatively to the traveling means, and a guide in supporting engagement with the other set of engaging devices along said curved portion, said guide overlapping said restraining means.

19. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, carriers connected movably with said traveling means and provided with engaging devices which project to different distances from the bodies of the respective carriers so that engaging devices will travel in different paths, and a restraining support for said engaging devices, to normally prevent movement of the carriers relatively to the traveling means, said support having releasing steps located in the respective paths of said engaging devices.

20. A conveyer comprising traveling means a carrier connected with said means movably, said means having a horizontal run, a stationary device, located adjacent to said horizontal run, but at a lower level, and adapted to receive an article discharged from said carrier, and releasing means arranged adjacent to the path of said carrier along said horizontal run, to determine the point at which such carrier shall move relatively to the traveling means to discharge the article, said releasing means being adjustable lengthwise of said horizontal run, toward and from the point at which said stationary receiving device is located, to

vary the distance intervening between said receiving device and the point at which the article is released from the carrier.

21. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means provided with a curved portion and with a straight run ad acent thereto, a curved guide located adjacent to said curved portion, carriers pivoted to said traveling means and adapted to be held in normal position relatively to the traveling means, by engagement with said guide, and restraining means located adjacent to the straight run of the traveling means and adjustable lengthwise of said run, said restraining means engaging the carriers along a portion of said run, and having sliding engagement with the adjacent end oi said curved guide, during longitudinal adjustment of said restraining means.

22. A' conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, receptacle sections connected movably with said traveling means at different points of its length, each of these sections having open ends, and a bottom which takes an inclined position at the horizontal portions of said traveling means, and transverse members secured to said traveling means between adjacent movable sections and provided, at their outer ends, with flanges inclined downwardly toward that end of the adjacent bottom which lies higher in the inclined position of such bottom.

28. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, receptacle sections connected movably with said means at different portions of its length, and having open ends at front and rear, and transverse members secured to said means and arranged between adjacent movable sections to form front walls and rear walls therefor, said transverse members being provided with inclined flanges to bridge the gap between adjacent sections and to guide articles into said receptacle sections.

24. A conveyer mechanism comprising traveling means, a carrier connected with said means movably, a stationary chute for receiving an article discharged from said carrier, and releasing means arranged adjacent to the path of the carrier, to determine the point at which such carrier shall move relatively to the traveling means to dis charge the article, said releasing means be ing adjustable lengthwise of the carrier path, toward and fromthe point at'which said stationary chute is located, to vary the distance intervening between the said chute and the point at which the article is released from the carrier. 7

ROBERT ELMER BAKER. EARDLEY HARRY FORD. LAURENCE SEYMOUR HARRRR. 

